Vinyl Albums - Comments by biffbampow

Vinyl Albums - Comments by biffbampow

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
biffbampow 13th May 2015		Vinyl Album Various Artists - What's Happening...Stateside? (1987)	Agreed. EMI had all that material in their vaults, realised there was a market for it so like you say, got in on the action. Unfortunately, I don't really remember it doing much following this relaunch... there was this initial bunch of albums to support it but they didn't follow through with a sustained enough campaign to keep building on it so I remember it just quickly being reduced to a trickle of occasional albums and CD's... after all the CD market was just starting to get moving at this time so the market was certainly there. I was always on the lookout for new CD's of vintage material and beyond this launch genuinely can't remember Stateside having much of a presence at all which was a shame. Not long after came the excellent Capitol Collectors and EMI Legendary Masters series presided over by Ron Furmanek and it was back to the more generic EMI labels from then.
biffbampow 13th May 2015		Vinyl Album Various Artists - What's Happening...Stateside? (1987)	Stateside was in many ways an EMI version of London Records dealing with licensed stuff from from smaller labels based in the States covering all areas of music, not just soul and R+B and this late 80's revival seemed intent on enshrining it for the soul and R+B stuff. Of course by then a large amount of stuff EMI had originally issued on the label they no longer had the rights to. Ike and Tina Turner did have some stuff released on the label in the mid 60's but as wonderful as "Nutbush City Limits" is, that was never a Stateside release but probably included since EMI owned it and thought "well, they were on the label at some point so, lets represent them anyway!" Given Ike and Tina were on United Artists for longer than anyone else there was a lot of stuff to choose from and a pity the compilers didn't opt for something more unusual but were probably figuring by using one of their biggest hits, it would make it more attractive for newer buyers. Plus by then, United Artists no longer existed, having been swallowed up into Liberty. So, EMI by reviving Stateside were probably hoping to use it as a catch all roster for the vintage American Soul and R+B they still had rights to.
biffbampow 11th May 2015		Vinyl Album Various Artists - 20 Golden Number Ones (1980)	Seems like this compilation's a bit confused as to the period it's meant to cover - 1960s or 1970s! Best to concentrate on one decade and leave the other for another volume. It does seem a bit jarring to have 17 tracks from the 60's and one from 1959 joined by two tracks from the 70's kinda grafted on for the the sake of it. The running order is actually worse as it leaps around all over the place adding to it's confused inconsistent flow. Definitely an odd grab-bag of stuff... all enjoyable stuff but not really the best way to listen to it unless one has the CD and reporgrams it into something more chronological. At least those MFP "Saviles Time Travels" albums (or whatever they were called) focused on a year at a time so made for less confused listens! Always a major beef of mine with various artistes compilations how they mangle chronology. It's taken me years - with much help from the 45world sites - to be able to sort out the mess and finally be able to listen to and study all this music in their proper place and context.
biffbampow 27th Mar 2015		Vinyl Album Freddie And The Dreamers - Sing-Along Party With Freddie And The Dreamers (1965)	In all my life, I can honestly say I have never EVER seen a copy of this album and this is the first time I'm learning of it's existence! I get the distinct feeling it's no lost cult classic either and the fact it's never been reissued gives a strong indication of what I fear this is like! That balloon in front of Freddie looks a little on the suggestive side!

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